Thursday, 23 August 2012

More Persecuted Than Thou

Guy #1- Man, I'd take the holocaust over slavery any day. At least you got it over with quick if they made you take a shower!

Guy #2- Hell no, bruv, being a (US) slave was just kinda like camping. And at least you mostly got to live through your entire life.

OK, so maybe it's a stretch, but you get the picture-- what you suffered through is always worse than what everyone else has experienced. It's as if every group wants the prize for having suffered the greatest injustice.

Shall we continue . . . .

Person #3- those gay people can hide their gay-ness, so why are they complaining about inequality. I'll take being gay over (choose an ethnicity) ________ any day! I can't hide my ______-ness!

So I've gotta admit that this is one that I've mostly heard from "African Americans" as to why the concerns of one minority group are not as legitimate as those of another. Huh?! First of all, there's no history of gay oppression (like Slavery). I mean gay people only appeared on the scene afte the whole civil rights struggle, right. They shouldn't be trying to piggyback and share the spoils of what WE fought for. How dare they compare their struggle to ours. I mean there were laws banning who WE could marry; We were discriminated against in the workplace. People even turned a blind eye to someone dragging us off and killing us strictly due to our color. And we didn't CHOOSE to be black! They've never had to endure such civil rights violations stemmiing from the lifestyle they choose-- they all just live happily in San Francisco and run around with those rainbow flags! So like I said, I'll take gay ofer black anytime. They've got it easy!

There are other examples of groups focusing just on those issues that impact them/not understanding  others' plights:
  • Trayvon-- given that no one should be stalked and murdered for walking down the street, black folks are (understandibly) SO up in arms on this. But shouldn't "those people" be just as angry when a black person shoots another person from Africa? Or when an african american, or hispanic/latino, or asian, or white purposefully kills someone, regardless of race. I didn't see anyone out marching over the Sikh temple killings! If we have the energy to march and protest for "one of ours," we're just beign complacent when we don't expend such energy fighting for others. Because guess what, if we correct it on one front, the benefit will likely extend to more than those directly involved-- it's called PRECEDENT
  • (Perhaps far-fetched, but) a "radical" gay person-- the other minority groups have all of these protections (marriage, employment, housing, etc.). What about us? I'll take being a Vietnamese immigrant any day over being gay. They've got it so much easier
  • And those illegal immigrants-- they just come waltzing over the border and use our schools, social services, etc. Coming to the US must just be like some kind of damn holiday for them!
How about we all fight to educate and correct all injustice, including that which we suffer(ed)? As long as we're all waging our separate campaigns, that just keeps us focused on our own little worlds. Injustice anywhere should be addressed, especially by anyone whose group may (or has in the past) be susceptible to an erosion of rights. Let's see, that would be all . . . . women, muslims (well, we've got to have someone to demonize), immigrants, jews, latinos, gays, blacks, etc. Imagine if all these pendejos got on the same page!? But I bet you'll still have women who vote for Akin (I mean those Democrats' values are just all whacky), and black folks who are weary of muslims (guess how many black  muslims there are; now how do you choose?) and poor latinos fighting against poor blacks (I guess that keeps both of those groups preoccupied and not paying any attention to how they BOTH being pissed on!)

The more people who are aware of whatever the injustice, the better. It's just more easy and convenient to focus on our own. Many groups may have legitimate gripes. The one we should all be on board and fighting for is the Native Americans. We victims of whatever past transgression we suffered are all here squatting on their land, granted some of us not by our own choosing. Sarcasm aside, the Native Americans pretty much have us all beat and should qualify as the most persecuted (than thou).

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